Mason of Bar X Ranch

“Powers, you’re crazy,” Mason answered to gain time. “If you harm that girl, I’ll hound you to your grave.”

Josephine had given a cry of delight when Mason first had borne down on Powers. Now, she had ceased struggling and was watching Mason with imploring eyes.

Powers showed signs of uneasiness. He was in fear his other pursuers would show up any minute.

“Come, give me thirty minutes’ start or the girl dies!” he threatened.

Great beads of sweat started on Mason’s forehead. He had about made up his mind to obey the fiend’s demand and take a chance of rescuing the girl later, when the sharp crack of a rifle broke the awful stillness, followed by a yell from above them.

Powers clapped his hand to his side and pitched forward on his face. Mason looked up to see where the yell and shot had come from, and saw Scotty standing on a huge boulder holding a smoking rifle in his hands and waving his hat at them. The girl stood looking down at Powers as though in a daze.

Mason leaped quickly to her side.

“Oh, Jack,” Josephine cried, her eyes swimming with tears, and collapsed in his arms.

CHAPTER VIII – THE MEXICAN ESCAPES

Mason’s heart beat violently as he held the dead weight of the girl in his arms. Tenderly he laid her down and hastily made a pillow of his coat to support her head. There was a spring close by and he filled his hat with the cool water and bathed her temples. His efforts were rewarded by a flutter of her eyelids just as Scotty came up and joined them. With a little gasp the girl rose weakly to her feet and stared with dilated eyes at Powers. He was lying on the ground with both hands clutched to his side and groaning.

“Is he dying?” The girl motioned the question to them with dry lips.

“He’s turned his last trick,” Scotty answered, grimly. “The bullet struck him in a vital spot. I had him covered for over five minutes, but didn’t dare fire for fear of hitting you.”

Josephine gave him a grateful look.

“I want to thank you both for saving my life,” she said in a voice deep with emotion.

Scotty mumbled something under his breath and seemed pleased at her praise, while Mason silently pressed her offered hand, his voice too full for words.

“Come, take me home,” she requested with a shudder, after glancing again at Powers.

The outlaw breathed his last just as they were taking their departure. They planned to send Bud and his men back to look after the removal of his body.

“Powers got his just desert,” was Scotty’s comment, as they made their way down the gorge.

Josephine gradually threw off the feeling of depression which had seized her. When they reached the trail leading out of the gorge, she saw her own favorite horse, Fleet. He was quietly grazing where Mason had left him. With a glad cry the girl ran up to him, and throwing her arms around his neck gave him a regular bear hug.

Fleet seemed equally pleased to see his mistress and voiced his appreciation with a low whinny of delight. Scotty insisted on having Mason ride his horse while the Scot rode the horse that Josephine had ridden at the time of her capture by the outlaws.

The girl was in high spirits again by this time, and lightly springing into the saddle started Fleet towards home. She rode slowly while she related her experiences with the outlaws from the time of her capture.

Scotty, in turn, explained how he came to arrive in time to put an end to the outlaw’s career.

He had miscalculated his horse’s speed and in making a wide detour had got far in the outlaw’s rear. Hearing only faint sounds of firing he determined to search for Josephine while waiting for the cowboys to come up. He had left his horse at the bottom of a deep gorge and started to climb a trail that led to a high plateau where he hoped to get a better view of the locality. He had made the summit and climbed up on a huge boulder when his startled eyes took in the scene already described.

“My finger itched when I drew down on that cutthroat, but he had you swung in front of him and I had to wait my chance,” Scotty concluded, addressing Josephine.

Mason told Scotty of his part in the chase, and as they were now nearing the spot where the Mexican had fallen the two men rode in advance as there was a chance of the halfbreed showing fight if he had not been wounded seriously. Mason had no idea how badly he had been hurt, for he had paid little attention to him in his mad dash after Powers. Mason pointed out the spot to Scotty where the Mexican had fallen, but they could see no trace of him.

Josephine, who had drawn up to the group while they were discussing the possible escape of the halfbreed, suddenly remarked:

“Here comes Bud with Joe and the rest of the cowboys.”

The cowboys saw them at about the same time and with a rush and roar, bore swiftly down upon them.

There was an excited clamor of voices as the cowboys dismounted and rushed up to Josephine to shake her hand, each man with hat off and expressing his pleasure at her safe return in his own characteristic way.

Mason and Scotty came in for a generous round of hand-shaking and glory from the cowboys when Josephine told them of their part in her rescue.

Mason walked away from the group of cowboys and sought out Bud, to whom Josephine had immediately gone after greeting the cowboys.

Bud had been wounded in the shoulder and the girl was giving him a scolding for not having gone home at once to have his wound attended to. She was adjusting a crude bandage for him and it gave Mason a sharp pang as he realized that she was gravely concerned over Bud’s welfare. Mason briefly outlined the result of his chase to him, and of the possible escape of the halfbreed. Bud listened quietly until he had finished, then his jaws came together with a snap.

“You and Scotty take the girl home, and the men will stay here with me while we clean up and look into the matter of the halfbreed,” he directed Mason.

Josephine uttered a cry of protest.

“You’re not coming with us?” she asked in a pained voice.

“No,” Bud answered with an air of finality. “We have got some work to do here before we go and I want to see it through.”

Mason admired the grit of the man, for he reasoned that he must be suffering tortures from his wound by this time. The girl gave a sigh as Bud stalked off to give orders to his men, and Mason, watching her, felt convinced that she was in love with her father’s foreman. Soon, Scotty rode toward them on a fresh horse and they set a fast pace for home with Josephine leading and having little to say.

They arrived at the ranch in due time, and Mason had to turn his head away at the touching scene, when the girl burst into the house and into her mother’s arms. They were laughing and crying in the same breath, and the father had his arms around the two, wife and daughter.

The next minute the girl was romping with her dog Rover, and calling him endearing names. A tear glistened on the ranch owner’s cheek as he silently wrung Mason’s hand when Josephine told of his part in her rescue.

That night when Bud and his men returned, they reported that they could find no trace of the halfbreed. They believed that the Mexican with his wide knowledge of the mountains had probably escaped to some retreat.

A few days of rest and quiet were indulged in by the men who had followed the trail of the outlaws so determinedly.

One fine morning, Mason, who had found a shady spot on the porch and had lazily stretched himself out for a nap, found his plans rudely shattered by the mistress of the ranch herself. She came running out of the house and stood surveying him with an air of severity.

“I would like to know, Sir Jack, if you are in the habit of breaking your promises,” she demanded, trying to keep her look of severity while pointing an accusing finger at him.

Mason looked up at her in astonishment. “Why, Josephine, I don’t know what you are driving at,” he answered with a blank look. He thought he had never seen her look as pretty as she did this morning. She stood before him, her eyes fairly dancing with fun.

“Then, Sir, I will refresh your memory,” she began with increasing severity. “Did you or did you not promise me long, long ago to take me for a ride in that fast racing car of yours?”

Mason sprang to his feet.

“What a dunce I’ve been, Josephine,” he exclaimed. “We’ll go for a ride this very morning. What do you say?”

“I’ll say, I’ll go,” she answered with a happy laugh and ran to tell her mother.

Mason backed the trim racer out of the shed and had the motor running smoothly by the time Josephine rejoined him.

“My, but you make a lot of smoke and noise,” she cried, putting her fingers to her ears.